Literacy attitudes, habits and achievements of future teachers

Abstract

Pre-service teachers' reading habits and their literacy abilities affect their views toward teaching reading and writing and how they implement literacy instruction. This study explored the relationship between the past and current reading habits of pre-service teachers in relation to their reading and writing abilities. Participating teacher candidates completed a questionnaire regarding their reading habits, completed two reading comprehension components of the Nelson-Denny Reading Test and provided a writing sample. Teacher candidates who received higher scores on the comprehension subtest of the Nelson-Denny Reading Test recalled a higher degree of early school emphasis on enjoying stories and mastering reading skills, frequent childhood visits to the library, frequently being read to as a child and a higher degree of enjoyment associated with reading.

From student to beginning teacher: Learning strengths and teaching challenges

“…Although they need to study current educational theory and practice to obtain their teaching credentials, research has shown that their own schooling remains a powerful influence on how they teach. A particularly interesting line of research on teachers' beliefs involves the investigation of beliefs about learning and teaching that arise from teachers' personal habits, abilities, and experiences (Benevides & Peterson, 2010;Johnson, 2008;Nathanson, Pruslow, & Levitt, 2008). The opposite appears to be also true for the teachers in this study: the subjects that were challenging for them to learn as students are the ones that are the easiest for them to teach.…”

“…The biographical perspective (Kelchtermans & Vandenberghe, 1994) which asserts that past life history and current teaching context are highly influential in professional behavior appears to be borne out in this study. Moreover, their personal habits, abilities, and experiences played a key role in their literacy teaching (Benevides & Peterson, 2010;Nathanson et al, 2008). Moreover, their personal habits, abilities, and experiences played a key role in their literacy teaching (Benevides & Peterson, 2010;Nathanson et al, 2008).…”

Impact of Reading Frequencies and Attitudes on Early Childhood Teachers’š Teaching Efficacy for Sustainable Development

“…As the teachersí reading attitudes increased, so did their teaching efficacy. Several studies revealed the positive relationship between prospective teachersí reading attitudes and their teaching related competencies such as critical thinking skills and reading habits ( Benevides and Peterson (2010) conducted with 227 prospective K-12 teachers revealed that participantsí reading habits and attitudes were correlated significantly with high and composite reading and writing scores. Teachersí positive attitudes toward reading is important because they can be good models for their students and, thus, support the development of positive reading attitudes in their students (Benevides & Peterson 2010).…”

The effect of a learner autonomy training on the study habits of the first-year ELT students

“…When it comes to the university-level ELT program, expectations are higher, especially in terms of producing academic-level written texts and speaking in front of a class full people as teacher trainees. Furthermore, pre-service teachers unfortunately do not enter teacher education programs with a high level of reading proficiency, nor with positive attitudes toward reading and reading-related habits (Benevides and Peterson, 2010). When the case in Turkey is considered, it is no surprise that they mostly possess exam-focused study habits that are shaped by the multiple-choice type of tests before they come into the program.…”